Gerard's book provides a close look at how German society adapted to war. Gerard became ambassador to Germany in July 1913, so he had much experience with life in Germany before the war.
The book also describes the different responsibilities that Gerard and his staff took on after the beginning of the war in August 1914. Immediately after the war started, Gerard had to help thousands of Americans leave Germany, which required elaborate feats of financing and safe passage across Europe.
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| James W. Gerard |
While performing these tasks, Gerard still had to perform his main job: "To keep his own country informed—to know beforehand what the country to which he is accredited will do."
Gerard's diplomatic efforts were primarily focused on protecting America's rights to the waters near the war zone. These efforts intensified after the loss of American lives when the Lusitania was sunk near Ireland by the Germans in May 1915.
These efforts eventually proved fruitless when Germany resumed unrestricted warfare on February 1, 1917. This decision led to Gerard's departure from Germany a few days later, and then to the entry of the U.S. into the war in April 1917.
The reasons for Germany's unrestricted submarine warfare were described in one of the many insightful conversations with German officials that Gerard documented in My Four Years in Germany.
A week or two before the thirty-first of January, Dr. Solf [the Imperial Colonial Minister] asked me if I did not think that it would be possible for the United States to permit the resumption of ruthless submarine warfare against Great Britain. He said that three months' time was all that would be required to bring Great Britain to her knees and end the war.These conversations resulted from the special access that Gerard had to German officials and helped make My Four Years in Germany a valuable and unique document of World War I.
One such German official was Chancellor Theobald von Bethmann-Hollweg, whom Gerard often portrayed sympathetically. Gerard strongly felt that the Germany military had control of the country during the war, and civilian officials like Bethmann-Hollweg were relatively powerless.
Gerard also had access to the German Emperor Kaiser Wilhelm II. But this access was disrupted for more than a year after the war began because the Kaiser objected to individuals in America selling munitions to Germany's enemies in the war. Gerard felt that international law allowed such transactions.
Gerard and the Kaiser also met in April 1916 at the general headquarters of the German army in France. This meeting required an intriguing visit behind the German front lines by a representative of a country that would be fighting Germany a year later.
Students of German society during World War I can find much of value in My Four Years in Germany.
The book opens with a description of a very formal and ornate ceremony by the German government that Gerard used to show both the real and symbolic power of the Kaiser and his royal family.
Later, Gerard described how the geographical organization of Germany was used to quickly disperse military authority throughout the country after the war started.
The economic side of wartime Germany is also described in detail.
Germany had to adapt to disruptions in its international trade and the allocation of resources within the country. Underlying all of these economic adjustments was the assumption that Germany would win the war and have its wartime debt eliminated by payments from defeated countries.
Gerard's story about life in wartime Germany was read by many Americans who themselves were adapting to participation in the war. His story first appeared in its entirety in a series of newspaper articles that started appearing in July 1917. These articles were published in book form in October 1917.
Also, Gerard made speeches across the U.S. to back up why he wrote My Four Years in Germany: "Because Americans do not grasp either the magnitude or the importance of this war."
The book later became the basis for a 1918 Warner Brothers movie.
My Four Years in Germany was published on October 8, 1917, according to an advertisement that day in the Harrisburg (Pennsylvania) Telegraph. Front page headlines in that day's Telegraph included:
- KAISER'S CABINET UNDER FIRE IN THE REICHSTAG / Chancellor Being Forced to a Showdown by Radical Leader
- RECORD CROWD TO HEAR WAR HEAD SPEAK / Chamber of Commerce Members With Their Wives to Turn Out Full Force / RED CROSS IS INVITED / Secretary Baker Will Address Notable Gathering This Evening
- HONOR THEIR MEMBERS WHO ARE IN ARMY / Rotarians From Eastern Part of State Are Holding Convention Here
Online versions:
Newspaper information from Newspapers.com (https://www.newspapers.com/).
Image of James W. Gerard from Wikimedia Commons (https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:JamesWGerard.jpg).
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